Asus is a gritty brand that continues to evolve as years go by. They make phones, as well as laptops that are worth giving a look.
Their Zenbook series has been a regular feature with us, but now we’ve managed to grab the ZenBook Flip UX360UA which gets a 360-degree rotatable hinge. Most laptop brands vie for recognition in the same breath as Apple MacBook and this one is no different.
But as most of them have found out, matching Apple’s software-to-hardware axis is no easy feat, and Asus tries to rise up to the challenge.
Pros:
- Bright, high-contrast display
- Powerful hardware in tow
- Compact and lightweight design
- Host of future-proof connectivity ports
Cons:
- Clicky keyboard feedback
- Clumsy trackpad
- Average battery life on offer
- Priced for the premium segment
What’s Good?
The ZenBook Flip UX360UA’s been given a full metal-body treatment, and we expect nothing less from a high-end ultrabook these days. It’s light on weight at mere 1.2 Kg, making it a delight to carry around on a day-to-day basis.
This has been greatly helped by the almost fan-less design chassis of the notebook, which doesn’t compromise on performance. With 16GB RAM paired with Core i5/Core i7 processor, stutter is a word that might disappear from your dictionary. Also, 512GB worth of SSD storage
The 13.3-inch Quad-HD touchscreen display offers 3200x1800 pixels resolution that offers bright, crisp content in high-contrast. Staying indoors to watch a movie or being glued to that latest series of No Man’s Sky could be an experience that won’t disappoint here. But keeping its form size in mind, we fail to get the best of this notebook gaming-wise, with its not-so-powerful Intel HD graphics card.
The hinge feature of the ZenBook Flip might be 360-degree enabled, but in most cases you’ll either use it as a laptop, or merely for the display. And it is fair to say that the device works out quite effectively in both the forms.
What also makes the ZenBook Flip a viable investment for the future, is its readiness to be used for good part of the next five years, if not more. You get USB Type C, multiple USB 3.0 ports, SD card slot and few others. It is worth noting that you can’t charge the laptop with the Type C port.
What’s Bad?
With high-end hardware, we have mostly seen that the battery suffers and, sadly, that remains the case with ZenBook Flip. On an average, we couldn’t muster more than six hours of use with the device. The display is bright but reflective also. As you can see in the image (Image 2).
The backlit keyboard manages to type with fast travel time, but one needs to get used to the feedback quality of it. Also, we found it hard to control the behaviour of the trackpad, especially when scrolling up/down, thereby forcing us to use the touchscreen feature of the display. Not cool for a high-end device.
The top-end version of the Flip costs up to Rs 1 lakh, which for all its class and features, can be a gamble that most consumers in the country would refrain from taking.
Why Buy It?
Asus ZenBook Flip is a modern-day notebook that perfectly marries design with portability. You can opt from an entry-level model (with Core M), to a powerful variant, if the budget permits.
Not a big fan of the hinged notebooks, but Flip offers that, just in case if anyone wants them. For almost a lakh, the ZenBook Flip is asking too much from the consumers, and even though it’s a fairly capable MacBook alternative, chances are most of you will prefer a conventional notebook.
All in all, the ZenBook Flip is flashy and manages to deliver on most fronts. But Asus is still asking for too much for a notebook that is trying to match up to Apple’s stature.
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